Gujarat Confidential: Diminished Opposition

Bhanuben Sorani, the nominal Leader of the Opposition at the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), missed the meeting of the General Board held Saturday. She was said to be travelling. This was the first General Board meeting after the ruling BJP revoked Sorani’s recognition as the LoP on April 26 by taking back the office and a chauffeur-driven car allotted to her in 2021 despite Congress having won only four out of 72 seats. Last year, two of the four Congress corporators defected to the AAP and were disqualified subsequently. Congress’s Maqbul Daudani was the lone corporator from the Opposition present at Saturday’s meeting. Consequently, there was no intervention by the Opposition during the Question Hour.

Utility Or Nuisance?

The General Board of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) on Saturday approved a proposal to demolish public urinals at Jubilee Garden and Karanpara. Proposals forwarded by the Sanitation Committee to the General Board reasoned that ‘pay-and-use toilets’ had come up in the vicinity of these urinals. The decision, however, came after public complaints to local corporators about the urinals being stinky and having turned into nuisance points.